Spotlight
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Collection. Every actor deserves to be in the spotlight, and these ones certainly are no exception. One-shot collection. Slight Ren/Kyoko, Sho/Kyoko. 14. There is nothing to say, nothing at all, and she doesn't mind it. -- Kyoko, Sho
1. Opposites

Title: Opposites

**Title:** Opposites  
**Day/Theme:** August 23, 2008/Understand my hate for you  
**Series: **Skip Beat  
**Characters:** Kyoko, Ren, Sho  
**Rating:** K+

**Summery:** Love and hate go hand in hand. Sometimes, though, it is easier to do one than the other.

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_Opposites_

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Kyoko, with everything she has in her, truly and entirely hates Sho. That is what she says and that is what she believes. She also, because of his behaviour, hates Ren. There are many reasons for the first, while there are only a few reasons for the second.

Sho, her prince charming, her hero, her _everything_ shattered her dreams and showed them for the illusions they were. She had _loved_ him and he betrayed her.

Most of all, she hates him for making the clock strike midnight, destroying Cinderella's spell.

Ren she hates as well. He smiles like a gentleman, but that just hides the darker side of him that only she sees. He points out all her flaws and puts her down for every mistake.

Everything she finds a way to fly, he finds a way to chain her back down.

However, in a place that she thought died long ago, she loves both of them. Maybe not _love_ love because that disappeared and will not return for a long time, but a type of love that grew out of admiration and respect. Sho used to be her world and by crushing that world, made her realize she was nothing without him.

By breaking her dreams, Sho made her find herself. He helped her start a journey of self-discovery.

Ren always gives her the cold shoulder and knows when she's about to blunder. In that way, he lets her understand the world of show-biz that she just joined, a world that she's new to.

For these things, for these completely small but entirely huge things, Kyoko loves both of them.

Loving them, though, is something she never wants to feel because love means betrayalhurt_pain_ and she never wants to feel that again. Loving them means she's starting to trust them and trust is so easily shattered in the world.

Sometimes it is better to hate than to love.

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**A/N:** This is going to be a series of one-shots on the characters in Skip Beat. Mostly, I'll be focusing on Ren, Sho, Kyoko, and Moko, but the other characters will be appearing every now and then. I'm sorry about the length, but these are just drabbles on their characters.

Anyways, I hope you'll review and tell me what you think!


	2. Birds of a Feather

Title: Birds of a feather

**Title:** Birds of a feather

**Date/Theme:** September 2, 2008/ None of a Kind

**Characters:** Moko, Kyoko, Ren, Sho

**Rating:** K+

**Summery:** Kyoko and Moko, Ren and Sho. They say birds of a feather flock together, but that clearly isn't always the case.

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_Birds of a feather_

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Kyoko and Moko are friends, as everyone commonly knows. Moko never really admits to it, but everyone can easily see that in the way they act around each other. There is a level of trust that not many have, and a sense of 'I've got your back'. Moko knows that if she ever falls, Kyoko will be there to bring her back, and Kyoko knows that if she goes too far or needs help, Moko is just a phone call away.

Kyoko and Ren are…well, not really friends, but they aren't just acquaintances either. Slowly, through the challenges they face and the moments they spend together, they grow closer and closer. It isn't quite yet love, but it isn't too far from it either. For now, it can be called Something Close.

Kyoko and Sho are enemies. Or at least, that is what Kyoko believes. Sho doesn't really believe she's much of a threat yet. Still, they used to be friends and after spending years together, some things can't fully go away. Kyoko still refers to herself as his best friend, while Sho…

Sho isn't fully sure of what to think. He'll never admit it, but he isn't sure what to call Kyoko.

(Similar to Ren, a love that wasn't fully there is now blooming.)

-x-

Ren and Sho are already famous, while Moko and Kyoko are slowly making their way to the spotlight. They all have different ways of doing it, different reasons for it, but in the end their wish is the same.

They all want to be number one.

Ren tries to do it by not releasing any true, pure feelings. It's the best way for him to keep himself under control.

Sho just sings and sings, soaring through the charts. Gravity has nothing on him.

(A not-existent guilt is the only thing tethering him to earth.)

Moko memorizes and practices, trying her best to keep her feelings for acting alive. She avoids others, though, because knowing who you are going to crush doesn't make it any easier.

Kyoko wants revenge. She wants to show Sho that there are things in life that can't be replaced, and she is one of them. Truly, she is a woman scorned.

All so very different.

Though, when you think about it, they aren't all that different at all.

Moko might try to hide herself from the world, but she's always wanted someone to talk to, someone to trust, just like Kyoko. Kyoko gained a true passion for acting, something that Ren and Moko showed but couldn't be learned by itself. Sho tried and failed to be past emotions, just like Ren realized that emotions are needed.

-x-

Ren gives a passing nod to Kyoko. She returns with a slightly tired smile—not wanting to have to deal with his gentlemanly behaviour.

Moko hesitantly gives Kyoko a small pat on the back for a good job, receiving an excited "We really _are_ friends!" (She dodges the hug.)

Sho stares out into the distance, trying to no wonder about Kyoko and Ren (and utterly failing to do so.)

They are alike in so many ways.

However, in the end, they are still different. There are bridges that can't be crossed, and acknowledging their similarities is one of them.

After a long day of work, 'none of a kind' is better than 'one of kind'. Especially in the show biz world.

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**A/N:** No idea where this one went. I liked the idea in my head, but it slowly grew into something weird and disjointed. I apologize for that. I think I'll brush it up later.


	3. Roll with it

Community: 31 days

**Community****:** 31 days  
**Date/Theme: **September 11: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again  
**Fandom: **Skip Beat  
**Characters/Pairing: **Ren/Kyoko

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_Roll with it_

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Ren recongizes the feeling he gets around Kyoko. It's a warm feeling, one filled with sunlight and dew drops, one that makes him light on his feet and his heart have wings. It's a feeling that he gets whenever she smiles at him, whenever she talks to him, even whenever she glares or apologizes to him.

She gets frightened of him and he thinks she's adorable.

She gets angry at him and he wonders what else has changed (_and how he'd like to find out_.)

She talks to him, trying so desperately to gain his trust, and he wants to tell her that she doesn't need to try so hard, that she already has his trust (_and his heart and his soul and his--_)

(He doesn't tell her, though, and just remains silent.)

The girl from his childhood gives him a mydraid of feelings, things he's ignored for years and tried his best to avoid. All at once, he discovers that blue and orange and pink exist in his world of grey.

He isn't sure if he should thank her for that, if he should voice how the world looks beautiful now that she's here and showing it to him as though it was his first time, like a blind man that could see.

He doesn't mention any of this at all, though.

These feelings were supressed for a reason and not even Kyoko could change that.

Instead, he just lets it wash onto him and then through, lets the feelings go past him until it is too late to acknowledge them. He's had to do this before and can do it again.

Ren is an expert at escaping the heart.

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**A/N:** Honestly, I like both Sho/Kyoko and Ren/Kyoko because either way the results are amusing.

I think I need to write a Sho/Kyoko to balance this out. D:


	4. Characters

Community: 31days

**Community:** 31days  
**Date/Theme: **September 11: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again  
**Fandom: **Skip Beat  
**Characters/Pairing: **The actors

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_The world is a stage and we are all actors on it._

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_Characters_

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They are actors, trained especially to change. This is where their talent lies, where their hard work pays off, and they reveal in it.

They don't show it because that is also a part of their training. Until the part is successfully completed, the mask stays on and the feelings locked up.

They can easily slip into one identity after another, from a young man, to a heartbroken widow to a hardened general. Names mean nothing, for Akito could be a young school girl or a elderly grandmother. Yoshimori could be a brazen young man or a successful father.

What does matter, though, is the script. The script tells them that the clothes should be worn proactively or timidly. It tells them that the lady hates bananas and cars, or that the man is a flirt. It defines who they are next, who they will be for the hoursdays_months_ it takes for their scene to be finished.

Actors are successful because they can connect and become their character, they can define and shape their personality.

However, sometimes this effects their real lives too.

Breaking up? Tears can come forth easily like it is for _Momoji._

Shatter a window? Bring _Sakura's_ sad, guilty face and all is well.

Recieve a terrible gift? Laugh and smile like _Tsukiko_ did.

Their real lives and their paper ones sometimes blurr and mix together, so deeply that it is hard to tell which is the lie and which is reality.

Sometimes it is too hard to break the two apart and tell the difference.

It's in their job.

Actors are most successful when they can adapt with a role and turn into someone else.

They are most prized if when the spotlight is off, they can turn back into themselves.

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**A/N:** So, as you can see, I had two ideas with this one. Oh, and for those of you who want to, you can request for a one-shot to be posted here. Just give me characters/pairing and prompts.


	5. Regret

**Title:** Regret

**Prompt:** August 27/Slightly out of character

**Character:** Sho, slight Sho/Kyoko

**A/N:** I like this pairing just because their childish-ness amuses me. It would be hilarious to see them together the way they are now. Sorry for the long wait till an update. I have about two more for this series to add, I'll add them sometime this week. Just need to edit.

**Summary:** _Shoe doesn't feel regret. This feeling he has, it has to be envy._

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Sho doesn't feel regret for anything he's done. Why should he when others have done far worse to gain even grander things? It isn't as though he stole (he did, her heart and now her old self) or destroyed anything (besides her). All he did was leave his parents, have Kyoko help him survive until his big break, and then start the slippery climb to the top of show business.

He didn't really do anything bad and he is reaping the rewards of his hard work. People adore him, his name is known everywhere, and he is doing something he enjoys. Why would he feel regret for anything?

Sometimes, though, he finds himself wondering what happened to that girl he used to know, the one that would always be there when he turned around. He'd stare at her brash actions and loud voice and wonder what happened to the quiet gestures that filled his memories. There is barely anything in Kyoko that he can recognize.

(He did something and he isn't quite sure if he could (should) have found a different path.)

So when that new feeling enters the pit of his stomach, Sho doesn't know what to think. It's just Kyoko, boring old Kyoko (but she isn't boring anymore) and his rival Ren together. Sure, this means that they are both on some new movie or series that makes them more popular, but he can probably catch up. All he has to do is make some new songs, do a video or two, and he'll be with them again.

Perhaps that's what annoys him, the fact that he has to catch up at all. He wants to be ahead of Ren and Kyoko shouldn't even be anywhere near him.

And those fantasies he has, where Kyoko is feeding Ren and they are laughing together, are just nothing. Probably his fear that they are gloating over how far ahead they are and how they don't even have to worry about him anymore.

He glances at the poster once more and thinks that this feeling he has most be something akin to envy and anger. That's all it has to be.

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	6. Abyss

**Title:** Abyss

**Theme:** 19. That's scary stuff, man

**Character/Pairing:** Kyoko

**A/N:** Sorry about the ending. It kind of went haywire. This is what writing early in the morning after a lot of homework looks like. I also still have yet to catch up with the latest chapter. Hopefully, I'll do it sometime this week. Or next.

**Summary**: _It was like looking into a dark hole._

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It was like looking into a dark hole. No matter how hard she stared, she never knew how far it went, just that it was deep and might never end. There would be small shadows crawling out of the hole, trying to grab her, but she always made it a point to stay just outside it.

She feared it, in a sense, because if it grabbed her and sucked her into it, she might never escape it. No light ever shone in or out of that hole and even if she hated, she never wanted to be consumed by that hate. She wanted to find a way to escape from it, to close that hole a little.

Sometimes, things would escape from the hole. Useful things, capable of helping her get what she wanted when she wanted it. In the end, though, they were still things that came out of that hole and she never kept them out longer than she had to.

(She could feel the hole pulling her in, the shadows flowing through her blood.)

Sometimes she would try to hide that hate, to shove it in a corner to that it was never seen again. She would push a boulder on top of that hole, keep away and never let it touch her, and hope that maybe it would disappear by itself. It would be gone forever and she could be Kyoko once more without it.

In the end, she couldn't because that hate was a part of her. Intricately woven into her very being. The hate would always be there, lying in wait until she released it once more and then she would be back where she started, trying to get rid of it. Like a race-track, no matter how far she runs she always returns to it and that in itself defines her.

(Who would she be without that hate?)


	7. Audition

**Title:** Auditions

**Fandom:** Skipbeat

**Theme:** 27. I'm a bit nervous and a tad freaking out

**Character:** Kyoko

**A/N:** Not my best…

**Summary**: _Kyoko would like to say that like everyone else, her first audition had her frightened and worried._

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Kyoko would like to say that like everyone else, her first audition had her frightened and worried. There would be questions that the others had, _would I make it?_ and _what if I screw up_? There might even be butterflies in her stomach and a dizzy sensation that stopped her from eating.

In reality, though, her first one had her filled with intense rage. Her blood was boiling and there was nothing like 'worry' in her. She didn't even think that word existed. Instead, she was ready and confident, sure that her anger would led her down the path she needed. She was on fire and nothing could quench her.

(Something did, though.)

It was her auditions after that she felt something akin to worry. Her stomach was in knots, a snake coiling around it and squeezing it shut. Her skin was slowly covered in small, crystalline drops that she wiped away every few seconds. Sometimes Kyoko would squeeze nothing in particular, her fingernails making crescent marks on her palm. They dug deeper and deeper until she realized what happened and would stop, only to do it again.

It was funny, though. At school, she never felt like this when she was about to do an oral test or a presentation. She was always the calm one, ready to deal with everything that life threw at her. Sho wasn't the one who panicked.

(And she wondered for the _n_th time what else he had taken from her besides her heart.)

She was called up and the feeling grew tighter and tighter, until it was hard to breathe. Step by step, she moved slowly but the feeling grew worse. Kyoko almost yelled to get rid of the tension but restrained herself in time.

(So this was how the other girls felt.)

The spotlight shined on her and her heart did a double flip.

It was showtime.

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	8. Competition

**Title:** Competition

**Characters:** Moko, Kyoko

**A/N:** I've noticed that my drabbles keep getting shorter and shorter…I'll try to make them longer.

**Summary**: _It was hard to admit it, even in her mind, because Kyoko always knew somehow. _

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Friendship, a small thing that was hard to say and yet, she had to admit it sometimes. She didn't do it often or loud but she would sometimes admit it much to her chagrin. Moko didn't even like to think about it often though, in the deepest recesses of her mind, it was a fact.

Why did Kyoko have to make such a big deal out of it? That girl would be loud and embarrassing, asking to hear it over and over again whenever Moko said it near her. So much commotion, so much noise, it was an annoyance that she tried to avoid.

And that was hard because it was impossible to escape Kyoko, impossible to make a move without catching her attention.

She always complained that Moko never said it enough but why would she even want to, when Kyoko would just embarrass her afterwards?

Glancing at the corner of her eye, Moko watched as her friend flipped excitedly through the script. Her lips silently wording her lines, frowning when she wasn't sure of what to do and then smiling once she got an idea. One hand held the script loosely while the other scratched her head absentmindedly.

She didn't look like she was worth anything. Instead, she appeared to be a newbie, on the set for the first time. There was nothing to hint to the potential she had, the abilities she showed time and time again.

Moko smiled to herself as she flipped through her own script.

It was funny how her biggest competition was also her friend.

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	9. Winner

**Title:** Winner

**Day/Theme:** July 24 // good like your laughter beside me

**Pairing:** Sho/Kyoko

**A/N:** My favourite crack pairing for this series…XD. I've been catching up in the series—chapter 72, the part where Ren is trying to get in character and succeeds.

**Warnings:** AU

**Summary:** _It was always about who was right and who was wrong._

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Kyoko stares out the window once more, a frown settled almost permanently on her lips as she makes another irritated sound. When he ignores it, staring resolutely out the windshield at the sedan in front of him, she repeats the noise, only louder.

It goes on for a ten minutes, her noises getting louder and louder until she finally says it.

"We could just go tomorrow." She glances at him this time, watching his reaction.

Sho tore his eyes away from the highway, noticing the small twitch in her eyes and the smirk on her lips as she continues. "It wouldn't be too hard to turn back from here."

His hands tighten on the steering wheel—he hopes she didn't notice but she probably did. Trying to keep his voice calm, he answers, "Today is better."

"Oh." Too late, he realizes he set himself up. "because the weather today is _so_ lovely." She looks out the window once more, at the stormy sky.

He doesn't bother to respond immediately. She notices how he stares at the road as though it had all the answers, not bothering to look at her because he knows she is smirking and that she is right.

Typical. Can't ever admit he's wrong, can he?

Thinking carefully, he finally has a retort. "Tomorrow it will rain." This time, it is she who looks away.

"…like it won't today," she grumbles. "And the weatherman could be wrong."

"At least it's warm today." Another point for him, but she responds quickly. She could always beat him at those games.

"Hot and sticky, you mean." She fans herself exaggeratedly, panting slightly and cranking down the car window completely. Sticking her head out a little, she gives a mock attempt at finding a cool breeze.

He pressed the gas when the traffic started to move again, annoyed.

"At least it's not cold and dreary," he scoffs.

"So you say. Just you wait—tomorrow it will be a perfect day and you will regret this."

"I won't. In fact, I will enjoy today so much. It's a perfectly good day to go out and it will be amazing."

"You wouldn't know amazing if it hit you in the face."

"Like you're one to talk."

They start arguing, bantering as Sho drives on. Birdies made of barbs and spikes are batted back and forth, tearing at each other as their tempers rise to match the temperature.

"Like you're chicken-suit!" Sho yells back in response to her after and unexpectedly, Kyoko starts to laugh. Softly at first, it grows louder and louder until she's bent over, tears in her eyes. It gets to him and he chuckles as well.

"We're such idiots," Kyoko gasps out between laughs and Sho, who could easily transform this into another fight, merely nods.

"Yeah."

They keep driving like this, loud and happy and angry, because they are both so easily excited and moved. His fingers relax a little and she gives a small smile and they both know that they will start again, like always.

That's fine, though. It's how they roll.

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	10. History

**Title**: History  
**Day/Theme: **Sept 13 // a short history of nearly nothing  
**Series: **Skip Beat  
**Character/Pairing: **Kyoko  
**Summary: **_She can't connect herself with that girl from that past, can't take that history and make it hers._

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Kyoko doesn't know herself. Not at all, not even in the smallest sense (except for the anger and the hate and the memories of a boy who was a fairy.) She once thought she knew herself, knew what she wanted with life and how to get it. The future was a straight road and she knew how she got to where she was.

Then Sho turned her world upside down and she can't shift through the debris, can't find the parts that were hers to begin with. She remembers beating him on sunny days, the white birdie hidden in the blinding sun, but did she practice for him? The meals she cooked, the postures she practiced, the techniques she memorized into her body until her hands were bruised and bloody. These small things that peppered her life, filling up each moment so she didn't have to think of her mother, all of them were done for him. (_Maybe if I'm good, I can stay with him. Maybe if I'm perfect, he will stay with me.)_

All of them for him and none of it her.

Her history, the parts that define a person, is an empty slate, a blank book, an uncharted map. She sometimes looks at it, as if to try and puzzle out what the picture is, but in the mirror she only sees a stranger. She's like Peter Pan, except reversed, someone who suddenly became a grown-up.

It bothers her.

(She grabs her cool rock, the blue standing out in her skin, and thinks, at least this is hers.)

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	11. Rivals

**Title:** Rivals  
**Day/Theme:** Sept 26 // she smiles like the knife  
**Character/Pairing:** Kyoko, Ren, Sho

**A/N:** Tried to show Sho's pride and Ren's confidence. A bit Sho!centric, which is odd considering this was originally going to be Kyoko!centric. I'm planning on writing a long one-shot for this fandom next, a first for me.  
**Summary:** _There was another reason she choose that aparment, aside from the cost. _

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"This is it," Kyoko announces, pointing at the building in front of her. It's worn-out, tendrils of moss and creeping plants on one side of it. There are clothes hanging out of windows and a dog barks somewhere.

"…Do you expect me to live here?" Sho questions, staring at the place once more and at the houses around it. "Seriously?"

"…you gave me," She smiles dangerously, and he knows that what she's about to say will cut at him, "only four hundred dollars for rent."

"…well, I can give more…" he admits, nervously. Kyoko gives him another thin-lipped smile, a razor-blade, the guillotine coming down on his head.

"Not only that, but you also wanted an apartment close to a mall and with a parking."

"Not one where I will get mugged," he mumbles to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Now, let's get settled in. I've already rented a room." She marches in and he has no choice but to follow, dragging his two suitcases after him.

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Kyoko is somewhere across the hall, chatting with someone that he can't recognize. The room is more dingy and he reminds himself that next time, he'll give her more money. Or less demands.

Or something that will appease her when he makes her go house-hunting.

Of course, if his plan works out, then he might never need her to house-hunt again. He'll be living it up in a mansion while she remains out here, not reminding him of his parents and being her (usually) boring self.

Then again, she has been changing ever since she started working at that tattoo parlor and that odd-jobs place. More domineering and…

His plan had better work.

"Really?" Her laugh filters down the hallway and into the room and before he can stop himself, Sho glances out the door. She's two doors down, laughing lightly, wringing her hands. It's a gesture she makes when she's nervous, he notices. "I didn't know that."

A deep voice replies, "I didn't expect you to."

It's an insult and lately she gets fired up when ever she gets one. He expects fireworks, a shot from a gun, but instead he finds her giving an angry glare and an irritated "Hey!"

It's like they're friends, like she gets this often, like she knows who this is.

He finds himself mildly annoyed with that idea and puts it aside.

Not fast enough, though, as he finds himself walking to where she is.

"Oh, Sho, this is Ren." There's a pleased glimmer in her eyes when she glances at 'Ren', a smile on her lips, and he tries hard not to remember how long it has been since she has looked at him like that.

He finds himself realizing that it is his fault he can't remember anyways, he's been away too long and pushes her away every time.

But that doesn't matter because she's _not a part of his plans_.

"Ah, so that's—"

"Ren! You promised!"

"…"

He stares at this exchange, and sees Ren watching him too. There's a confident look on his face, as though he knows what's going on and knows that he is going to be on the winner's side.

Kyoko laughs again and he finds himself wondering if he's going to be on the losing side and how much it will cost him.

(Later, when they walk back, he puts a protective arm around her shoulder and thinks he can't lose. He just _can't_.)

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	12. Spells and Charms

**Title: **Spells and Charms  
**Day/Theme: **Feburary 3rd // the witching hour  
**Character/Pairing: **Maria

**A/N:** She's adorable and this is my update to make up for lack of other updates. I'm trying to write a full one-shot for this series, but I'm having difficulties. Partially because I don't know who I want to write about.  
**Summary:** _It's a ritual, one that never works, but she does it anyways._

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The clock strikes twelve (gong, gong, gong, an echo in an empty room). She sits up, carefully listening for the sound of footsteps.

None. She's safe, the servants are either sleeping or taking care of grandfather.

Silently, very silently, (because she is a sorceress and she is casting a spell on them all), Maria slips out of bed and reaches under her bed for her box (cauldron.) One last glance around the room and she creeps to the hallway. Treading down it (like a monster, like a demon, like the things that crawl in the night), she slides into the last room.

The windows are wide and open, a slight breeze stirring the curtains. Her candles are all set, standing side by side in a row, waiting to be lit.

She does that carefully, not wanting to get caught with fire. (Danger, danger, Maria is danger).

The full moon shines down on her and she takes out her special candles, her dolls, her pieces of spells and charms. This is her magic, the black kind, the darkest kind, the ones that make people scream. This is her ritual, every full moon, during witching hour.

She lights the candles first, watching them slowly shrink with each second. What it must feel like to be burning, she doesn't know.

(Sometimes, she dreams it, her body disappearing, needles sticking out her back...)

Next she casts her curses (because she is a witch and that is what they do.) One on her grandfather, one of the maid, one on Ren-sama, one on her father. She casts them in succession—quickly, quickly, time is running out.

Maria doesn't quite know what she's doing, what spell she's casting. It might be a horrible one or it might be a kind one. All she knows is that it never works. It never has. All that's left is a puddle of wax and the broken feet, hands, chest, of the dolls.

(And then, maybe it is because she has always wanted to be loved and forgiven, and she knows that is something that can never happen.)

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	13. Paradise Lost

Title: Paradise lost  
Day/Themes: February 9 // so Eden sank to grief  
Series: Skip-Beat**  
**Character/Pairing: Kyoko, Sho  
A/N: I really didn't want to do this story for this prompt, it seemed almost too obvious, but the story wouldn't stopped calling, so...unfortunately, here it is. Set at the beginning of the series.**  
**Summary: _For a chilling moment, she realizes that paradise is lost._

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Paradise lost. That is the feeling she has, for one chilling moment. All hope is gone, all trust destroyed, her future broken asunder. There is nothing left, not her past (for where is Corn anymore but in a stone and in her memories?) and not her heart(a lie, all of _him_ was a lie in a pretty package).

She stares at him, seeing an iron door closing down on her.

(There goes that path, the only direction she knew to travel in).

For a stark second, she thinks of the excited look on his face, the smirk that appeared when he wrapped an arm around her, the--

(scowls, the frowns, the lonely nights)

--soft look in his eyes. Eden is gone, disappearing into the realms of her mind.

For the briefest moment, she feels lost and confused. Miserable. There is nothing left, nothing at all, and she doesn't know what to do with this. Maybe she should cry. Maybe she should scream.

(_Click!_)

Then, the moment passes, and she smiles darkly.

(It wasn't really Eden she left, anyways.)

...

...


	14. A spring breeze

**Title: ** A spring breeze  
**Day/Theme:** March 31 // Nothing to say, besides some comment on the weather  
**Characters:** Kyoko, Sho  
**Summary:** _They are strangers, effectively, so it's no surprise that she has nothing to say._

...

...  
It's a wonder it came to this point. Especially considering how she was those first few months, how she has been these past years. Hate, an ugly word, used to be the lens through which she saw the world. Anything with him near it would automatically be blocked from sight.

Yet here she sits, beside him. Her posture is erect but relaxed, her fingers idly playing with her scarf. A bird calls and she isn't thinking of a thousand ways to hurt him or to get away from him.

She's thinking of nothing, in fact, and that surprises her.

He's sitting a small space away, stiff, nervous. He isn't used to seeing her like this, she notes. Isn't used to finding her calm and collected, the anger wiped away by cloth

The bench is warm from the sun and she almost falls asleep. They are too silent and this hasn't changed. There are few aspects that they have in common and those have been decreed taboo by some unspoken agreement. He opens his mouth once or twice, closing it when he realizes there is nothing for him.

Glancing at her watch--the silver metal glints in the sun, momentarily blinding her. It's not too expensive, on the cheap side considering her salary, but she likes it nonetheless. A fairy hits twelve and she has to leave in fifteen minutes.

Tugging at her skirt, she turns to face him. His face has matured, just like he has. There, she said it. A compliment. If she could say it aloud, it would be even better, but for now she makes do with her head.

"So..." she realizes why he had a hard time talking. She has nothing to say either. They are two strangers, effectively. Glancing up at the sunny sky, she makes a random stab at it. "Nice weather we've been having, eh?"

...

...  
...


End file.
